[Event "Rosenwald Memorial Tournament"]
[Site "New York, New York USA"]
[Date "1956.10.17"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Byrne, Donald"]
[Black "Fischer, Bobby"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Grunfeld Defense"]
{ This chess game was nicknamed "The Game of the Century"
by Hans Kmoch in "Chess Review".
It was played between chessmaster Donald Byrne and
13-year old Bobby Fischer in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in
New York on October 17, 1956.
The text of this annotation was written by David A. Wheeler, based on
a number of sources (see references, below) and his own
study of the game.
Donald Byrne (1930-1976) had already obtained first place
in the 1953 US Open Championship, and would represent the United States
in three Olympiads (1962, 1964, and 1968).
Robert "Bobby" Fischer (1943-) eventually became world champion.
In this game, Fischer (playing black) is amazingly brilliant, with
such beautiful play that it was called the "Game of the Century".
Byrne (playing white), after a standard opening, makes a minor mistake
on move 11, moving the same piece twice (wasting time).
Fischer pounces, with strong sacrificial play, culminating in an
incredible queen sacrifice on move 17.
Byrne captures the queen, but Fischer more than compensates by taking
many other pieces. The ending is an excellent demonstration of pieces
working together to achieve a checkmate. }
1. Nf3
{This is the "Reti" opening, a noncomittal move that can easily
transpose into a number of other different openings.}
1. ... Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7
{Fischer has opted for a defense based on "hypermodern" principles:
he's inviting Byrne to establish a classical pawn stronghold in the
center, which Fischer hopes to undermine and transform into a target.
Fischer has fianchettoed his bishop, so it can attack the
a1-h8 diagonal including its center squares.}
4. d4 O-O
{Fischer castles, concentrating on protecting his king immediately.}
5. Bf4 d5 6. Qb3 dxc4 7. Qxc4 c6
8. e4 Nbd7 9. Rd1 Nb6 10. Qc5 Bg4
{At this point, Byrne's pieces are more developed, and he
controls the center squares. However, Fischer's king is well-protected,
while Byrne's king is not. }
11. Bg5?
{Here Byrne makes a mistake - he moves the same piece twice, losing time,
instead of developing in some way. Both [Burgess, Nunn and Emms]
and [Wade and O'Connell] suggest 11. Be2; this would protect the King and
enable a later kingside castle.
For example, the game Flear-Morris, Dublin 1991, continued in this way:
11. Be2 Nfd7 12. Qa3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 e5 14. dxe5 Qe8 15. Be2 Nxe5 16. O-O +/- }
11. ... Na4!!
{Here Fischer cleverly offers up his Knight, but if Byrne takes it with Nxa4
Fischer will play Nxe4, and Byrne then suddenly has some terrible choices:
13. Qxe7 Qa5+ 14. b4 Qxa4 15. Qxe4 Rfe8 16. Be7 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Bf8
produces a terrible pin.
13. Bxe7 Nxc5 14. Bxd8 Nxa4 15. Bg5 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxb2
gives Fischer an extra pawn and ruin's Byrne's pawn structure.
13. Qc1 Qa5+ Nc3 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nxg5
gives Fischer back his piece and a better position. }
12. Qa3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe4!
{Byrne declined to take the knight on move 12, so Fischer tries
again by offering material to Byrne, in exchange for a much better position
that is especially dangerous to white: an open e-file,
with white's king poorly protected.}
14. Bxe7
{Byrne wisely decides to decline the offered material.}
14. ... Qb6 15. Bc4 Nxc3! 16. Bc5 Rfe8+ 17. Kf1
17. ... Be6!!
{This is a very clever move by Fischer; this is the move that
made this game famous. Instead of trying to protect
his queen, Fischer viciously counter-attacks using his bishop and
sacrifices his queen. Byrne cannot simply take the bishop,
because that will lead to checkmate:
18. Bxe6 Qb5+ 19. Kg1 Ne2+ 20. Kf1 Ng3+ 21. Kg1 Qf1+ 22. Rxf1 Ne2# }
18. Bxb6
{Byrne takes Fischer's queen, as Fischer offered.}
18. ... Bxc4+
{Fischer now begins a series of discovered checks, picking up material.}
19. Kg1 Ne2+
20. Kf1 Nxd4+ 21. Kg1 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nc3+ 23. Kg1 axb6
{This move by Fischer takes time out to capture a piece, but it
doesn't waste time because it also threatens Byrne's queen.
Byrne's queen cannot take the knight on c3, because it's
protected by Fischer's bishop on g7.}
24. Qb4 Ra4
{Fischer uses his pieces together nicely in concert;
the knight on c3 protects the rook on a4, which in turn
protects the bishop on c4. This forces Byrne's queen away.}
25. Qxb6
{Byrne's queen picks up a pawn, but it's now poorly placed.}
25. ... Nxd1
{Fischer has taken a rook, 2 bishops, and a pawn as
compensation for his queen; in short, Fischer has gained significantly
more material than he's lost.
In addition, Byrne's remaining rook is stuck on h1 and it will take
precious time to free it, giving Fischer opportunity to set up another
offensive. Byrne has the only remaining queen, but this will not be enough.}
26. h3 Rxa2 27. Kh2 Nxf2 28. Re1 Rxe1 29. Qd8+ Bf8 30. Nxe1 Bd5
31. Nf3 Ne4 32. Qb8 b5 33. h4 h5 34. Ne5 Kg7
{Fischer breaks the pin, allowing the bishop to attack as well.}
35. Kg1
35. ... Bc5+
{Now Fischer "peels away" the white king from his last defender, and
begins a series of checks that culminate in checkmate.
This series of moves is extremely interesting in the way
Fischer shows how to use various pieces together to force a checkmate.}
36. Kf1 Ng3+
{Adjacent bishops can, without opposition, simply move next to each
other to force the king along. However, Fischer can't do this here by
simply moving his light-square bishop to c4, because Byrne's knight
protects c4. However, the knight does the job, forcing Byrne's
king along.}
37. Ke1 Bb4+ 38. Kd1 Bb3+ 39. Kc1 Ne2+ 40. Kb1 Nc3+ 41. Kc1 Rc2# 0-1
{ Burgess suggests 3 lessons to be learned from this game, which can
summarized as follows:
* In general, don't waste time by moving the same piece twice in an opening;
get your other pieces developed first.
* Material sacrifices are likely to be effective if
your opponent's king is still in the middle and a central file is open.
* Even at 13, Fischer was a player to be reckoned with.
References:
Burgess, Graham, John Nunn, and John Emms. "The Mammoth Book of
The World's Greatest Chess Games." 1998. ISBN 0-7867-0587-6.
pp. 213-216.
Wade, Robert G. and Kevin J. O'Connell. "Bobby Fischer's Chess Games".
1972. ISBN 0-385-08627-X. pp. 110-113 (game 179).
Eade, James. "Chess for Dummies". NY, NY: IDG Books. 1996.
ISBN 0-7645-5003-9.
}